A multiplicity of contact systems is known from the prior art. The contact systems can essentially be divided into three groups according to the design of their contact pins:                contact systems with spring contact pins, as are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,645 B2,        contact systems with lever arms, as are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,555,834 B2, and        contact systems with buckling bars, as emerge, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,205 A1.        
The contact points to be made contact with by the contact system can be arranged in this connection in various standardized configurations on the housing of an integrated circuit, such as, for example, Ball-Grid-Array (BGA) or Quad-Flat-No-Leads-Package (QFN).
A common feature of all of these contact pins is that the spring force or prestressing force required for the contact connection is produced by elastic deformation of a component (spiral spring in the case of the spring contact pin) or of the entire contact pin (lever arm or buckling bar). In order to achieve the requirements regarding the contact force, the spring travel and the stability in a certain use of the elastic contact pin, with the laws of structural mechanics being taken into consideration a relatively large overall size for the elastic contact pin is produced under some circumstances.
This brings a plurality of disadvantages:
The electrical adaptation of the contact pin to the entire measurement system, which adaptation is required for the reflection-minimized transmission of high-frequency signals and is typically already difficult to bring about if made additionally even more difficult by the lengthening of the contact pin. This has a disadvantageous effect on the signal integrity of the high-frequency signal to be transmitted.
In addition, a different contact force arises for each point of the spring travel. This non-linearity of the elastic contact pin has a particularly disadvantageous effect if axial tolerances, for example in the event of an oblique position, in the event of wear or planarity tolerances of the contact surface grid, have to be compensated for.
Ageing-induced fluctuations in the spring force because of, for example, the relaxation of the elastic contact pin can be compensated for only with a large outlay, if at all.
If the contact force of the elastic contact pin is intended to be adapted, for example in the case of sensitive contact points, in high-current applications or in the event of oxidized contact points, this is likewise only possible with difficulty, if at all.
Semiconductor components are frequently tested under extreme temperature conditions, for example in burn-in tests. In these cases, the elastic contact pins are frequently exposed to very high or very low temperatures, and therefore they act as heat conductors and undesirably dissipate heat from the measurement object or supply heat to the measurement object.
This is a state which is worth improving.